SURVIVAL ANTIBIOTICS

Illnesses caused by viruses usually run their course in 7-10 days. Illnesses caused by bacteria can sometimes be fought off by the body for for the most part if not treated with antibiotics they just get worse and can result in death.

Antibiotics are not like pain killers. You can not just pick your favorite brand. The bugs that antibiotics fight are different. Intestinal diarrhea bacteria is much different from throat, sinus and ear infection bacteria. You have to match the antibiotic with the bug you are fighting. Additionally, some people are allergic to some antibiotics especially the penicillin family. Finally, if you take antibiotics when they are not needed, say for a cold, or if you don’t take them correctly or for the full length of time prescribed, you can help produce antibiotic resistant bacteria.

The FDA and the medical profession control the dispensing of antibiotics through prescriptions. In some countries like Canada and Mexico, you can buy antibiotics over the counter without a prescription. I feel everyone needs to store antibiotics for SHTF scenarios. The questions are “What do I store?”, “Where do I get it?”, “How do I use it?”, and “How do I store it?”

I am not a doctor. My medical background is 3 years as a Med-Tech in the US Army, 1 year of which was spent in a microbiology lab working with some very nasty bacteria, and a life of helping to raise kids that had more than their share of aches, pains and ills. I am not giving medical advice. I am only giving you my opinion based on my personal experience and study. If you need medical advice, seek out the help of a licensed medical professional.

What do I Store?
Everyone has an opinion on this and I will give you some references to study this on your own. Everyone is a little different . Different bugs hit different areas of the country. Kids can not take some antibiotics that adults can take. Some antibiotics are inexpensive and some cost a bunch. Some antibiotics are easy to obtain and some are hard to get a hold of. I am going to give you a list of the antibiotics that I store and tell you why.

As you can see there is a variety of opinions. So I’ll add one more list to the mix. This is based on my family’s needs. We have no young children or infants and we have one family member that is allergic to some penicillin family drugs. I am giving the generic names since these are cheapest and in the US are just as effective.

Most common side effects are gastrointestinal: diarrhea (5%), nausea (3%), abdominal pain (3%), and vomiting. Fewer than 1% of patients stop taking the drug due to side effects.

I like Azithromycin because it is a broad spectrum antibiotic and it is not in the penicillin family so you don’t have to worry about the penicillin allergic reactions. It is more effective than many older antibiotics and as of yet, bacteria has not shown much resistance to it. A point against Azithromycin is that it is more expensive than other antibiotics. If cost is a concern Cephalexin and Erythromycin cover pretty much the same bacteria spectrum.

Erythromycin is also used before some surgery or dental work to prevent infection. It can be safely used in children and pregnant women.

Erythromycin tends to cause the intestine to contract. Common side effects include, cramps, diarrhea and other Gastrointestinal disturbances like nausea, abdominal pain, and vomiting.

Why don’t I include it with my main stores? If I didn’t include Azithromycin, I would include Erythromycin.

Special Cases
A couple of special cases antibiotics. If you have the money and want to add a couple of specialty antibiotics to your stores just in case you run into the unusual, here are a two antibiotics to consider. If I only added one of them it would be Metronidazole.

Where do I get it?
This might be the Sixty-Four Dollar question but I’ll try and give you some options.

Option 1 – Find a sympathetic doctor who you have a relationship with and is willing to write a prescription for you. Make sure you are knowledgeable and can explain what you want, why you want it and how you plan on using it. If you can’t talk intelligently with your doctor, they won’t feel good about writing you a prescription.

You can tell your doctor about prepping and ask for prescriptions for stores. Another possibility is to get antibiotics in preparation for a trip to a third world country. When I went to the far east, my doctor gave me a prescription for Azithromycin, Ciprofloxacin, and Doxycycline to take with me. The Azithromycin was for any upper respiratory infection I might get, the Ciprofloxacin was for any urinary tract infection I may get and the Doxycycline was for protection from Malaria. I had a great illness-free trip and put the antibiotics in storage when I returned home.

A variation on this theme is http://www.survivinghealthy.com. Dr. Bob is a real physician. He understand a prepper’s need to store antibiotics. He has 4 ready made antibiotic packs ranging from $120 to $220. You fill out a patient information form and then order your antibiotics. The antibiotics come in your name with information on their use and dosages. This is all legal and above board.

Option 2 – Visit Canada or Mexico. Both countries sell antibiotics over the counter without a prescription. You notice I said VISIT Canada or Mexico. Don’t order the antibiotics, especially from Mexico. Mail order drugs have a good chance to be nothing but placebos. Drugs bought face to face over the counter in a pharmacy will be okay.

As I understand US customs laws, you can bring 50 units (pills) per person of any antibiotic for your personal use back into the US with you. If the total cost of the pills exceeds $300 you may have to pay a customs fee.

Option 3 – This one is a grey area. From my research it appears that antibiotics made for animals (especially fish and birds) are the exact same antibiotics made for humans. The key is to ensure that the antibiotic is the only ingredient in the pill or capsule and that the dosage is the same as the human dosage. I have to add that ordering or having a controlled substance with intent to use it other than its intended purpose is against the law. Buying pet antibiotics and storing them in preparation for buying fish or birds as pets seems to be within the law. If SHTF and you had to pull out the pet antibiotics and use them in an emergency, I don’t think you would receive any grief.

You may have noticed that a pet equivalent for Azithromycin was not listed. At this time, Azithromycin is only licensed for humans. The other antibiotics are available at Amazon, PetMeds, ebay and lots of other places. Just do a search. The least expensive place I have found is Countryside Pet

One last thought. If you add the cost of antibiotics using this animal antibiotics option and the cost of the antibiotics packs you can order from Dr. Bob, there is less than a 5% – 10% difference.

How Do I Use It?
The dosage and length of time to take an antibiotic varies depending on what infection you are treating. There is no way I could cover all that information in this blog. The best source is to get a copy of the “Nurses Drug Handbook”. It will provide dosage and other information. Sometimes you can find a free download of an older version. I picked up last year’s edition by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins from Barnes & Noble’s online used textbooks for $2 plus shipping.

If you are going to store antibiotics and other drugs you need a reference book to help you use them properly. With that said, here are a few of the most common used for each antibiotic on my list.

Azithromycin
Tablets come in doses of 250 mg and 500 mg. The 250 mg tablets are often dispensed in packages of six and commonly referred to as a “Z-Pak,” A common dose of oral azithromycin therapy consists of a “double dose” of medication on the first day of treatment and subsequent treatment for four or five additional days.

Metronidazole
Usual Adult Dose for Bacterial Vaginosis – 500 mg orally every 12 hours for 7 days
Usual Adult Dose for Amebiasis – 500 to 750 mg orally 3 times a day for 5 to 10 days

How Do I Store It?
The military conducted a series of drug shelf-life tests in conjunction with the FDA and drug companies. The drug companies participated on condition that the results would be know only to the military to aid them in stock piling drugs but the results should not be made known to the public for fear of lost revenue.

The results of the testing was they found out that more than 90% of medications were still effective up to 15 years after their expiration date.

Shelf-Life of drugs has a lot to do with storage conditions just like it does with food. Cool, Dry, and Dark are the optimum storage conditions. I use a resealable paint cans from Home Depot to store my drugs. I have a gallon size for antibiotics and a quart size for pain medication. I put an oxygen absorber in with the prescription bottles and seal the lid tight. If I need to open the can to add or use some pills, I add a new oxygen absorber and reseal it. A glass jar would work just as well but make sure it is stored out of the light. (Metal and glass are the only air tight containers).
If you have a vacuum sealer you could vacuum seal the bottle of antibiotics in a bag before placing it in a paint can or glass jar.